I've been using Slamd64-12.1 (the 64bit port of slackware by Fred Emmott)
a fair bit lately and it's just like slackware :)

Perhaps worth a try if you have a Core2Duo or so box.

[url]http://www.slamd64.com/[/url]

Grant
--
[url]http://bugsplatter.id.au/[/url]

08-03-2008, 02:21 PM

unix

Re: Slamd64-12.1

On 2008-08-02, Grant <g_r_a_n_t_@dodo.com.au> wrote:[color=blue]
> Hi there,
>
> I've been using Slamd64-12.1 (the 64bit port of slackware by Fred Emmott)
> a fair bit lately and it's just like slackware :)
>
> Perhaps worth a try if you have a Core2Duo or so box.
>
> [url]http://www.slamd64.com/[/url][/color]

Grant,

can you tell us whether you notice any difference in performance
between Slackware and slamd64 (and, if so, on what processor type)?

Also, I poked around the web site a bit and didn't see any security
updates. Are they there somewhere?

Thanks.

Jim

08-03-2008, 03:25 PM

unix

Re: Slamd64-12.1

On 2008-08-03, Jim Diamond <Jim.Diamond@nospam.AcadiaU.ca> wrote:[color=blue]
> On 2008-08-02, Grant <g_r_a_n_t_@dodo.com.au> wrote:[color=green]
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I've been using Slamd64-12.1 (the 64bit port of slackware by Fred Emmott)
>> a fair bit lately and it's just like slackware :)
>>
>> Perhaps worth a try if you have a Core2Duo or so box.
>>
>> [url]http://www.slamd64.com/[/url][/color]
>
> Grant,
>
> can you tell us whether you notice any difference in performance
> between Slackware and slamd64 (and, if so, on what processor type)?
>
> Also, I poked around the web site a bit and didn't see any security
> updates. Are they there somewhere?[/color]

Duh, found them.

But I'm still interested in opinions of whether slamd64 actually runs
noticeably better than slackware. (That is, for people *not* using
programs that require a 64-bit address space.)

Not really, I post a comparison CPU benchmark (kernel compile times) soon.[color=blue][color=green]
>>
>> Also, I poked around the web site a bit and didn't see any security
>> updates. Are they there somewhere?[/color]
>
>Duh, found them.
>
>But I'm still interested in opinions of whether slamd64 actually runs
>noticeably better than slackware. (That is, for people *not* using
>programs that require a 64-bit address space.)[/color]

In that case, I'd stay with slackware if you have 4GB or less memory,
there's no point running 64bit. I'm not running slackware desktop,
I run some X apps (eg. Firefox) with Xming over localnet.

On WinXP with a Core2Quad + 4GB I'm running 32bit. But that machine
is great for running slack in vmware, I can give a VM 1GB or 2GB of
memory and 2 processors. (I have WinXP 64bit, but rarely run it, can't
get 64bit drivers for everything, ho hum).

It's an Intel Core2Duo E6400 2.13GHz with 2GB memory. I haven't benchmarked
performance difference but it's not much. Slamd64 is better than some 64bit
ports as it has the 32bit binary libraries as well.

Both updated to latest patches. Kernel configs and dmesgs:
[url]http://bugsplatter.id.au/test/boxen/pooh/[/url]
[url]http://bugsplatter.id.au/test/boxen/pooh64/[/url][color=blue]
>
>Also, I poked around the web site a bit and didn't see any security
>updates. Are they there somewhere?[/color]

I keep a local copy of the install tree, Slamd64 Changelog latest I have:

Grant <g_r_a_n_t_@dodo.com.au> wrote:[color=blue]
> In that case, I'd stay with slackware if you have 4GB or less memory,
> there's no point running 64bit. I'm not running slackware desktop,
> I run some X apps (eg. Firefox) with Xming over localnet.[/color]

Make that "3GB or less", 32-bits Linux cannot make use of the full
4 GB (as screen memory, kernel I/O mappings etc also have to be fitted
into the 4 GB address space). Depending on the hardware you can loose
more than .5 GB of usable RAM.
--
*******************************************************************
** Eef Hartman, Delft University of Technology, dept. SSC/ICT **
** e-mail: [email]E.J.M.Hartman@tudelft.nl[/email], fax: +31-15-278 7295 **
** snail-mail: P.O. Box 5031, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands **
*******************************************************************

08-04-2008, 09:45 AM

unix

Re: Slamd64-12.1

On Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:30:21 +0200, Eef Hartman <E.J.M.Hartman@math.tudelft.nl> wrote:
[color=blue]
>Grant <g_r_a_n_t_@dodo.com.au> wrote:[color=green]
>> In that case, I'd stay with slackware if you have 4GB or less memory,
>> there's no point running 64bit. I'm not running slackware desktop,
>> I run some X apps (eg. Firefox) with Xming over localnet.[/color]
>
>Make that "3GB or less", 32-bits Linux cannot make use of the full
>4 GB (as screen memory, kernel I/O mappings etc also have to be fitted
>into the 4 GB address space). Depending on the hardware you can loose
>more than .5 GB of usable RAM.[/color]

Yes, I agree, forgot about that :)

Grant.
--
[url]http://bugsplatter.id.au/[/url]

08-09-2008, 09:23 AM

unix

Re: Slamd64-12.1

I've been running Slamd64 on my AMD laptop for a couple of years now - since
just before the first "official" stable release, in fact. Recently I built
myself a new Core2 Duo desktop and have now moved that onto Slamd64.

Anyone who has used Slackware for any length of time will be instantly at
home. In many ways its indistinguishable! Because Fred (like me) is based
in the UK, we don't have the same software patent concerns as afflict the
US, so you may find some small differences in the included packages.

As far as speed goes, I do a lot of video work (I'm a professional video
editor), and it certainly seems much faster when transcoding large files,
though I haven't actually timed it. Compared to Slackware on my old
Athlon-XP machine (I know, not comparing like with like!) the frames per
second count is between 4 and 5 times faster. This makes quite a difference
when rendering large files, though how much is down to the 64 bit and how
much down to the processor is a moot point!

So far, the only hardware driver issues I've had were for things that I
couldn't find drivers for under Slackware (or any other Linux) either (like
the built in wireless card in my laptop!).

Updates aren't as frequent as Slackware, as Fred is at University, and his
studies have to come first! Having said that, like Slackware, it is very
easy to get the source package and update whatever you want yourself! In
fact, I've just finished doing that with Pan.....!

In short, its been an excellent experience, and one I would recommend to any
Slacker wanting to try 64-bit!